Behind a strong start from Konnor Pilkington, second-seeded MSU held on late for a 5-4 victory against fourth-seeded Illinois-Chicago at Pete Taylor Park.
MSU (37-25) will now advance to face the loser of the Southern Mississippi-South Alabama contest at 6 p.m. Sunday. That contest will be available on ESPN3.
"An outstanding win for our guys," head coach Andy Cannazaro said. "Our guys played a full nine innings. Konnor was great for the first seven innings. He really threw a lot of strikes. Riley (Self) battled hard to get the game completed."
Pilkington (8-5) allowed one hit over the first seven innings of work and had a stretch of 14 straight retired batters.